A messy adventure in learning to cook

Giada’s Mozzarella Meatballs

The fiance and I both love Giada DeLaurentiis.

I used to think it was for very different reasons. I like the ingredients she uses and the clarity with which she explains each of her steps and, fine, because her show is on late enough in the day that I can occasionally catch it if I get home early. As for my fiance…well…it’s an easy cooking show to watch.

The other day, though, he suggested that I make meatballs that she made on her show one time. “With bits of cheese in the middle,” he explained “seared and then baked in the oven.”

I was impressed. This means that he actually watched the show. With the sound on. And listened.

So I found the recipe for her Bucatini All’Amatriciana with Spicy Smoked Mozzarella Meatballs and got to work. Next time, I will do the sauce a little differently by using twice the tomatoes as called for in the recipe and less or no pasta. My ratio was just a little off or the sauce over-reduced.

But the MEATBALLS. Oh my gosh the MEATBALLS. And so, I present just the meatballs here. The recipe actually doesn’t call for searing the meatballs first, though I might try that next time. I also used regular mozzarella and not smoked — still fantastic.